


The Caraxios

by perseajackson



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Naboo - Freeform, Naboo Culture and Customs (Star Wars), Other, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), and i have trigger warnings at the beginning of each blip regarding what kind of stuff is where, but theres lots of soft familial moments too, its the family of my pc for a swttrpg game!!, like physical and emotional abuse, the rating is mature because there's abuse in the family, this focuses on an imperial family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:01:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25981759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perseajackson/pseuds/perseajackson
Summary: A compilation of blips, moments, and moments between relationships of the members of the Caraxio family.---Keeva Caraxio was born on Naboo in 29 BBY. He was the third child of Paxa and Adia Caraxio, and the youngest sibling to twins Adler and Liah. For a while, things were good. But as the galaxy underwent incredible changes, so did their family.The events of his childhood and the dynamics between his family members shaped Keeva's personality and morals, eventually leading him to become the highly-skilled smuggler he believes he was always meant to be.---Each chapter sort of jumps around in time, but everything in this work occurs before 15 BBY unless otherwise stated.Mature rating is for emotional and physical abuse. Trigger warnings are listed in the beginning notes of individual chapters.
Kudos: 1





	1. The Family Tree

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is just to outline the Caraxio Family and the Nattaj Family just for the sake of keeping everyone straight lmao
> 
> this chapter is also best viewed on desktop or in landscape view because of the formatting of like. yknow. a family tree n stuff

CARAXIO [kuh-RAX-ee-oh]

Kathwin + Iskil Caraxio [EES-keel]

|

Juliari Caraxio ----- Marden Caraxio + Corella Vahnn ------------ Paxa Caraxio + Adia Nattaj [AH-dee-uh]

|

Adler Kyan Caraxio ---(twins)--- Liah Marneea Caraxio [LEE-uh] ----- **Keeva Alexander Caraxio** \----- Paxson Sebastion Caraxio

NATTAJ [nuh-TAHJ]

Loryana Nattaj + Atton Rand

|

[unnamed generation]

|

Kevanna Nattaj-Rand [kee-VAH-nuh] + Aledar Gar'vik

|

[unnamed generations]

|

|

Berdie Nattaj + Marneea Sedros

|

Kyra Nattaj ----- Borran Nattaj+ Park Hillsho ---(twins)--- Rodra Nattaj + Emmerin Higvale

|

Willow Nattaj + Micaz Bruitis

|

Rori Nattaj +Dak ------ Samsa Nattaj ---(twins)--- Dariden Nattaj ----- Adia Nattaj [AH-dee-uh] + Paxa Caraxio \------ Advar Nattaj ------ Kyan Nattaj [KYE-ann]

| |

Emi Nattaj ----Kya Adler Kyan Caraxio ----- Liah Marneea Caraxio [LEE-uh] ----- **Keeva Alexander Caraxio** \----- Paxson Sebastion Caraxio

* * *

**NOTES:**

CARAXIO:

Juliari is thirteen years older than Marden. Marden is three years older than Paxa. Paxa is sixteen years younger than Juliari.

Juliari has been estranged since Paxa was three.

Marden begins dating Corella in 20 BBY.

\---

NATTAJ:

Adia's siblings showing their age differences based on if Adia is 10 years old.

Rori- 20

Samsa- 17

Dariden- 14

Adia- 10 y/o

Advar- 8

Kyan- 7

\---

Adler and Liah were born in 34 BBY and are five years older than Keeva. Liah was born 10 minutes after Adler, just after midnight on their due date.

Keeva was born in 29 BBY and is ten years older than Paxson. He was born three weeks early.

Paxson was born just before the end of the Clone wars. He is fifteen years younger than the twins and ten years younger than Keeva. Paxson is primarily raised by Adia, her best friend Kasara Nordrayn, and the twins.

\---

Adia and Paxa divorce in 9 BBY.


	2. Like You Take Care of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adler has a cold, and Keeva wants to take care of him. Brothers bonding time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place maybe a month after ROTS.

Keeva tapped the coin against the desk a few times, sighing into his palm that propped his head up and ignoring the painful sting of the metal surface against his bare elbow. He spun the coin expertly with his thumb and first finger, watching it spin and spin before deciding he was sick of the sight and clamping his hand over the disc.

Echoes of his father's words rang through his mind on repeat.  _ Traitorous Jedi. Good riddance. Proper soldiers who did the right thing. _

Something in his gut told him it was all a load of rubbish. The pessimist within him wondered why anyone even bothered idolizing anything. Life was not fair nor kind. Nothing was perfect.

A weak cough pulled him from his thoughts, and Keeva turned his head to see Adler rubbing his sweaty forehead with a tiny groan. Keeva moved to get another cold compress, and quietly requested the droid keeping them company to give them the room.

"You'd better be catching up on work over there," Adler's nasally voice said, his tone as teasing as it could get through his exhausted vocals.

"Of course not," Keeva said with a smirk, kneeling down next to Adler where he lay on the sitting room couch. Keeva placed the compress onto his brother's forehead and let his hand linger to hold it steady. "I was staring at the wall thinking."

"Thinking? Are you sure you're not the one feeling unwell?" Adler said, shooing Keeva's hand away to adjust the compress on his face as well as his position on the couch. "Don't stay so close to me or you'll really begin feeling sick."

"I was actually hoping you'd spare me some of your disease so I can miss classes this week and stay home a bit longer, so I would appreciate you coughing directly into my mouth, if you don't mind."

Adler chuckled and weakly shoved Keeva's shoulder away from him. "Such a lazy student, and a weirdo. I'll selfishly keep my germs to myself, thank you," he said, tauntingly coughing again, though into his elbow. 

"Hm, not lazy. Unmotivated. My marks are stupendous. Nothing less from Paxa Caraxio's son, hm?" Keeva mumbled with reluctant bitterness. "Though I'm sure you understand perfectly." Adler sighed tiredly, and Keeva felt a twinge of guilt. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you feel worse at all. I just want to help you feel better, actually. What can I get you? Water? Are you hungry yet? It's beginning to feel a bit stuffy in here, isn't it-" Adler's hand reaching over and cupping Keeva's cheek stopped his ramble and caused a low chuckle to escape the elder brother's mouth.

"Your bedside manner is impeccable," Adler teased, briefly tousling Keeva's hair. "I'm fine, honestly, little brother. You don't need to take care of me like this-"

"I want to," Keeva said quickly, his expression becoming quite serious as he took Adler's hand in both of his. He stared his brother in the eyes and said again, "I want to take care of you. You always take care of me, Adler. I want to take care of you, too. It feels like you're the only one who minds me much of the time. I can't have you ever doubting that- I refuse to-" A rare moment struck him speechless as he struggled to get the words out properly. Keeva dipped his head with frustration and sighed, clenching Adler's hand tightly.

"Keevs- Keeva, look at me." It took a moment, but the boy raised his eyes to meet his brother's. Adler's expression was gentle and serious at the same time. "I will never doubt you, do you understand me?"

Keeva's vocals caught in his throat, and he sighed again, biting his bottom lip hard as he began to incline his head towards his brother, hesitated, then leaned forward all the way and pressed his forehead to Adler's cheek. He took note of how sweaty and warm he was, but he wasn't bothered.

"I will always take care of you, just like you take care of me," Keeva said finally, though in a much quieter tone. He pulled back to meet Adler's gaze again and said, "You can always rely on me. I promise," before leaning forward again and pressing his face into Adler's chest.

He didn't know why his shoulders trembled slightly or why it felt like there was a stray tear on his cheek, but the tension from the day melted out of his back when he felt Adler's hands wrap around his torso as much as they could, and he thought he heard Adler sigh a quiet, "I know."


	3. Ear Piercings

_ “Adler Kyan! _ Is that an  _ earring?!” _

Adler winced as his mother’s fingers dug deep into his jaw as she quickly whipped his face from side to side, examining his new piercings.

“It’s nothing to be mad about, mother!” he tried to protest through his oncoming dizziness from the rapid movement. 

“Nothing to be  _ mad _ about?!” his mother exclaimed. “Your father and I are gone a week and a half on a work trip and you get your  _ ears pierced _ in the meantime! Didn’t ask permission! Didn’t even think about the ramifications for this at school, I’ll bet!”

“The Academy doesn’t care long as I keep my helmet on, mum!” Adler insisted, finally pulling his face away from her death grip and reaching up to smooth down his hair. “Besides, they look cool! Loads of other kids in my class have their ears pierced! I’m not the  _ only one _ .”

“How about the only one who got your ears pierced without permission? Hm?” his mother snapped, pushing her finger painfully into his chest. He was already as tall as her, but with the fury she was reigning upon him now, he doubted she would never not scare him when she was upset, no matter how tall he grew.

“What’s all the yelling?” Liah’s voice called as she made her way into the kitchen. Adler turned to try and give his sister a warning glance, but it was too late; their mother turned her pointing finger to Liah, who was adjusting her straightened hair into a half-up style.

“And you! Where’s your new piercing, hm?” Adia snapped. Liah’s eyes widened, flicking a glance to Adler and opening her mouth, but she was cut off before she could get anything out. “Don’t even  _ try _ to deny it, young lady! I know if one of you has done something, so has the other!”

“I- I don’t-” Liah began, clearly thrown off by their mother’s anger.

Adia, still a few inches taller than her daughter, caught Liah’s chin between her fingers as she had Adler and used her other hand to brush Liah’s hair away from her ears.  _ “Liah Marneea!” _

“It’s  _ not _ a big deal, mother!” Liah quickly argued, swatting their mother’s hand away and leaning out of her grasp. “There’s nothing to fuss about!”

“You’ve double pierced your ears, and I’ll bet you conned Adler into getting his pierced!” Adia accused, putting her hands on her hips.

“Oh, of course it’s all  _ my _ fault!” Liah exclaimed, throwing her hands up. “Because Adler can’t make decisions or wrongdoings on his own, can he?! He always has to be influenced by me to do something  _ bad!” _

“Don’t try to play this game with  _ me _ , Liah Marneea!” Adia said dangerously as she leaned in towards her daughter. “You think I don’t know which of the two of you takes point in the schemes you do together?”

“Mother,  _ schemes _ is hardly appropriate for this, and that’s not being fair to Liah-” Adler tried to interject again, but his voice faltered when Adia threw him a firm glare.

“Don’t any of you  _ know _ what time it is?” a new, smaller voice piped up, and Adler’s head fell into his hands.

“Oh,  _ stars _ , help me,” he moaned to himself.

“Keeva, the  _ grownups _ are talking, get out of here,” Liah said, flipping her hair, almost as if to show off her new piercings now to ire Adia.

“Then what are  _ you _ doing down here, Lili?” Keeva asked in the same know-it-all tone Liah had just given to him. Adler peeked between his fingers to see his little brother, clad in his pajamas, walking into the room from the stairwell with his arms crossed and his curly hair beginning to revolt from its earlier combing. “Besides, it’s no fair for you to tell me to go to bed and then come down here and start some screaming match where I have to get out of bed to eavesdrop.” 

“Then don’t  _ eavesdrop _ , you little slung-beetle!” Liah shot back, but Keeva stopped paying attention as soon as he noticed Adia in the room, and he rushed over towards her.

“You’re back, mother!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her neck when she knelt down to greet him, a smile managing its way to her features as his little face buried into her neck.

“Hello, Keevie,” she said, hugging him tight and tousseling his hair as he stood back to look at her. “Your sister is right, though, that you should go back to bed-”

“Mother, look!” Keeva said, and Adler realized where his brother’s train of thought was going just moments too late for him to interject. Keeva already had his fingers behind his ears and pushed them forward. “Liah and Adler and I got earrings while you were away!”

“You were  _ sworn to secrecy!” “You what?!”  _ Liah and Adia snapped at Keeva at the exact same time. Keeva’s excited grin wavered towards conflicted as he looked between the pair of them.

“I already heard you yelling about it, so my oath is void!” Keeva said flippantly to Liah as Adia quickly put her hands to his ears. He had the stud on his left ear near the top of the cartilage and the stud on his right ear down on his lobe.

“They’re magnetic! They’re fake!” Adler rushed out, holding his hands up defensively as Adia opened her mouth to likely scream at them. “The piercer gave him magnetic ones after we got our piercings done-”

“Because he wouldn’t stop  _ crying _ about getting his own ears pierced-” Liah cut in unhelpfully.

“But he doesn’t have real piercings!” Adler insisted. “We would never-”

“You’re not even wearing them right! Why is one up at the top of your ear? You look like such a loser!” Liah fussed, taking the fake earring off his left ear and moving it down to his lobe despite his protests. “You have to wear them evenly, in the same place on each ear!”

“Get off! I  _ like _ them uneven!” Keeva snapped, swinging his hand towards her in vain to get her to stop touching him.

“You  _ would _ like them uneven, you little-” Liah began to scoff at him as she swatted at his flailing his hands.

“He’s nine! He doesn’t need to be wearing these at all!” Adia said firmly as she picked Keeva up and held him against her hip. She pointed a hand with two fingers at the twins and gave them killer glares. “I’m going to take Keeva back to bed, and then we’re going to make sure the pair of you haven’t got infections from this ridiculous stunt.”

“Are you going to make us take them out?” Adler said, putting his hands behind his back uncomfortably.

“Absolutely not,” their mother said, much to his surprise. “We paid for those earrings, so you’re both keeping them.”

“We wouldn’t have gotten them if we didn’t want to keep them,” Liah said, tilting her chin up with slight defiance. 

“We’ll see how much you still want them when Grandmother and Grandfather Caraxio visit next weekend,” Adia said, surpassing Liah’s tone with expertise and a knowing smirk.

“Oh  _ no! _ ” Keeva whined, matching the exact emotion of dread that fell upon Adler in the same moment.

“What are  _ they _ doing coming to visit?” Liah asked with a groan.

“How long are they staying?” Adler added.

“Can’t they stay with Uncle Mardan?” Keeva begged.

“You can all ask those questions to your father when you see him in the morning,” Adia said with cruel indifference as she adjusted her hold on Keeva. “Now, you two, take my bags upstairs while I put him to bed.”

Adler stayed put, listening to Keeva try and convince their mother to allow him to stay up and keep his fake earrings on as they ascended up to the bedrooms.


	4. Teachable Moments

Keeva scoffed and rolled his eyes. "So when are you going to break up with her?"

"Who said I was breaking up with her?" Adler asked as he shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "I just told you I liked her."

"No, you said you liked kissing her. The ones who are fun to kiss are always the ones you break up with the fastest," Keeva said, grinning at his brother's offended expression and trying to catch pieces of popcorn in his mouth when Adler threw them at him in insult. 

"That is  _ not _ true! Besides, what do you know, hm?" Adler said, sniffing and tilting his chin up. "You're eleven! You don't know anything about romantic relationships."

"I don't have to know anything about romantic relationships! I know  _ you _ , and I know your patterns, big brother. You're  _ predictable _ \- hey!" Keeva protested when Adler threw a pillow at him. Keeva snickered and deflected the pillow, nearly sending it into the bowl of popcorn on the table between them. 

"I take great offense to being called predictable," Adler said pointedly, though he had a small smirk on his face. 

"Then perhaps you should change your perspective. Like for instance, last month you were going with that boy in your history of medicines class, and you talked about how sweet and kind he was, but he always tried to touch your hair when you kissed him-"

"But who  _ does _ that?! It was like some weird automatic response to get his soft little fingers in my hair-"

"And before that was the boy you met at Ashladel and Nesalex Kindala's birthday party who you said was a super good kisser, but all he cared about was working on his speeder-"

" _ And _ how he believed there was going to be a droid uprising!"

"And before  _ that _ was the girl who, for starters, enjoyed cutting her own hair every other week-"

"Okay, okay, smart guy!" Adler said as he waved his hands to cut Keeva off, who simply gave him a devilish grin. "Since you know so much, why don't you tell me what you would've done better then, huh?"

Keeva blew a raspberry and tossed popcorn in the air, trying to catch it in his mouth as he spoke. "Whoa, I never claimed to know anything about relationships. I just know what to look out for, it seems, thanks to your trials and errors."

"The greatest pride a big brother can have is knowing he provides teachable moments for his little brother," Adler said with a grin as he watched Keeva. "Come on, though, isn't there anyone who's caught your eye? Or is dating and cooties still too gross for you?"

" _ Cooties? _ I'm not  _ five _ , Adler, please," Keeva said as he rolled his eyes. "But if you  _ must _ know, no, there isn't anyone I find myself interested in. Perhaps it's the whole 'late bloomer' thing mother says sometimes, but I don't like people that way."

Adler gave him a slightly confused look. "What do you mean that you don't 'like people in that way'?"

"What do you mean what do I mean?" Keeva asked as he filled his cheeks with their snack again. "I thought that was a pretty clear sentiment."

"Well, I mean- I know you keep to yourself a lot, but there's other kids you might fancy, right?" Adler clarified. He rested an arm against the back of the sofa and cocked his head at Keeva.

Shaking his head and looking completely unbothered, Keeva tried to throw up another piece of popcorn to catch in his mouth before saying, "Not really. I don't mind being friends with some other kids but that's all, really." He dusted away some crumbs that fell in his hair and looked over at Adler, his expression quirking with confusion. "Is that… not normal or something? You look like you expect me to be as enthusiastic for dating as you." 

Adler quickly shook his head and silently chided himself for whatever expecting expression he'd been displaying. "No! No, I mean- I don't think it's not normal to just be fine to be friends with people. I just… didn't realize you'd never had a crush before."

Keeva hummed and shrugged, handing the popcorn bowl over to Adler. "Maybe it's a puberty thing. Maybe I'll get all doe-eyed at someone once I'm tall enough to see over their shoulder." Adler couldn't help but laugh as he set the bowl on the table, and as he settled back into the couch, Keeva was suddenly kneeled next to him and was placing his hands on Adler's jaw.

"You're really looking forward to puberty too much," he told Keeva with a smirk. "What are you doing?"

"I'm thinking about which of your most handsome traits I want to inherit," he said, as if it were obvious. Adler snorted and watched as Keeva dragged his fingers up his jaw and then flicked his fringe away from his eyes.

"You don't inherit anything from me. You're stuck with whatever traits mother and father gave you, buddy," Adler said, laughing when Keeva's nose scrunched up with distaste.

"I mostly look like father,  _ ugh _ . And Liah! How come I resemble her more than you? You're supposed to be  _ twins _ ." Keeva fiddled with the part in his hair and began inspecting Adler's freckles. 

"We're fraternal twins, you know that. Don't mess up my hair!"

"Mess it up? Brother, I am trying to  _ help _ you-"

"You little twerp-" Adler said with a grin, and he quickly pulled Keeva into his arms. Keeva laughed and wrestled away, trying to get his arms around Adler's neck, but the elder sibling easily pressed his brother's small frame into his chest and pulled the pair of them down against the length of the couch. He cackled at Keeva's protests while he mercilessly rustled Keeva's hair. "I'm just trying to help, Keevie!! Don't struggle so much!!"

"Let go! I surrender, I surrender!!" Keeva protested, although Adler smiled at the giggles in between grunts and huffs while he tried to escape.

Adler loosened his grip, and Keeva pushed himself up against Adler and glared at him with those mischievous golden eyes. "That- was not- a fair match," he huffed. "You are-  _ far- _ outside my weightclass!" He collapsed against Adler, who couldn't help but laugh again. Adler began thinking up another witty retort, but let it go as Keeva suddenly wrapped his arms around Adler's neck and nestled close against him with a satisfied hum. 

"Worn out already, huh?" he teased softly, raising a hand to begin caressing Keeva's hair. 

"No. But this is nice," Keeva mumbled. He nuzzled his head against Adler's collarbone, and Adler wrapped his free arm around his little brother. 

These were moments Adler cherished above almost all else. For a brief moment, he could remember when he was half Keeva's age and holding his tiny baby brother for the first time. Their mother had teased him, playfully calling Keeva  _ his _ baby, for how much Adler always wanted to hold and play with Keeva. Adler didn't know how to explain it, the bond he felt with his little brother. But as he felt Keeva's weight against him while he slowly combed his fingers through Keeva's hair, Adler felt the same strong attachment, the same strong emotions of love and desire to protect his brother at all costs.

Some part of Adler's brain that constantly worried about Keeva's…  _ special talents _ tried to push itself to the forefront of his mind, but Adler quickly shoved it back with a sigh. Keeva hadn't had any  _ episodes _ , so to speak, in quite a while.

So he forced himself to focus on the present. Keeva's voice mumbled quietly towards his ear, and Adler pressed his lips gently to his brother's forehead. "I love you too," he said with a sigh of contentment. 


	5. Fractured [part 1]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warnings:
> 
> keeva is 9 and gets his arm broken. mentions about the fracture in his arm and plenty of talking about and referencing the injury. references to emotional abuse. references to parental emotional abuse and yelling.
> 
> \--
> 
> so some of the language in here is not written in english, but in a made up nabooian language i've been building for myself because i've yet to find an established nabooian language, though it is canon that one exists. obviously i can't write in futhork here LMAO so i just came up with my own language, loosely based on a mix of french, latin, and italian.
> 
> i can translate if requested, but i kinda like leaving them ambiguous and foreign to the reader hehehe
> 
> \--
> 
> the caraxios also live out in the lake country of naboo, a bit isolated, but there are a few families that live on nearby properties that are like family friends, including kasara and calbren nordrayn and their children, sebgio and zoa and bren, who are mentioned in this. kasara is a doctor/medical professional, so she gladly helps out since the nearest medical facility is a bit of a drive from the area they live in. the caraxios basically have like this nice big home with a big garden out back and the lake comes up about a ten or so minute walk from the house. its very pretty, kinda lush countryside esque hehehe

_CRack-_

Liah froze, and so did Keeva, pinned beneath her arms who, up until about two seconds ago, had been wriggling and fighting to get out of her hold. Her blood turned to ice, and she saw Keeva’s face drain of its colour, his profile displaying complete shock as half of his face was still pressed into the grass.

“Liah..,” Adler’s voice said quietly, too quietly, from his refereeing place nearby.

Keeva’s head twisted just enough to glance at his right arm, still and held firmly beneath Liah’s knee, and then his eyes looked up and caught hers. She’d never seen him look so utterly speechless and void of all emotion before in his entire life. His lips moved to say something, but only a small, nervous whimper came out.

Liah looked down at her knee. There was no way-  _ no way _ she really-

And as soon as she moved to shift her weight off of his arm, a terrified yelp and then a scream of pain erupted from her little brother’s lungs. She quickly got off of him, and hovered her hands above him with absolutely no idea of what to do. Adler was already there, kneeling between Keeva’s head and his arm and muttering something to him. Adler had one hand on Keeva’s head trying to caress his forehead soothingly, but Keeva had tears already running down his face and he was stuttering over every word that tried to leave his mouth.

“Shh, just- Keeva, I need you to take deep breaths, okay? It’s okay, I promise. You have to control your breathing, Keeva,” Adler was saying, his tone firm.

“M-M-My- My- I can’t- c-can’t- m-move-” Keeva stuttered, a sob choking out of his lips followed by another squeak of pain.

“I’m going to help you up, Keeva,” Adler said, placing his hand on Keeva’s right shoulder.

“I- I- I c-can’t m-m-move my ar-arm!” Keeva said desperately, and Liah heard his breathing quickening, despite Adler’s insistence to calm himself.

“You can, Keeva, I promise, you can move it-

“I c-c- _ can’t- _ ”

“Trust me, Keeva, okay? I’m going to sit you up on three,” Alder persisted. Liah gave her brother credit- he had enough composure for the three of them at the moment. He counted slowly from one as he carefully arranged his hands underneath Keeva’s biceps. He caught her eyes and quickly glanced to Keeva’s hurt arm. She was already moving to kneel next to it as he said, “Keep it held out straight.” She nodded and slipped her hands beneath Keeva’s already bruising forearm and lifted it gently in sync with Adler as he hoisted Keeva up to trembling knees. Keeva screamed in pain again, and it made Liah feel utterly sick to her stomach. As distasteful as she found her baby brother, she found she really couldn’t stand to hear him suffering like this. He was so small...

Before she could attempt to hold his arm still to examine it, Keeva snatched it away from her, and she watched as he scooted backwards against Adler, almost in fetal position, as he held his injured arm against his chest and desperately grabbed one of Adler’s hands with his free hand.

“D-D-Don’t  _ t-touch _ me!!!” Keeva snarled, his voice more vicious than she thought his little body was capable of sounding. But her brows furrowed and her mouth snapped shut when she looked at the expression full of fear, anger, and  _ betrayal _ upon her little brother’s pink and teary face. He stared at her, wide-eyed, as if she’d just broken a level of trust she hadn’t even known he’d put in her. He looked at her like she’d just tried to kill him, or as if her breaking his arm was the very last thing he ever would have expected her to do to him. Didn’t he know it was an accident?? Why did he look so  _ betrayed? _

“K-Keeva, I- I didn’t mean-” Liah started to say, reaching out a little and stopping her hands when Keeva flinched hard and tried to scoot further into Adler’s chest, actually causing their brother to sit back onto his feet.

“St-Stay away f-f-from m-me!” Keeva snapped. “You- You- Y-You-” He kept stammering until he sobbed again and broke down into tears as he looked down and stared at his swelling arm with horror.

“Liah, go get mother,” Adler said firmly. His expression was of course filled with worry for Keeva, but there was disappointment and surprise in it too, like he  _ also  _ thought she injured his arm on purpose.

“I didn’t  _ mean _ to do that!” she insisted to him desperately. “Addie, please-”

“Just go get mother,” Adler pressed, and then he turned his attention back to Keeva, whose little form simply would not stop shaking. “Keevs, deep breaths, remember? Hey, hey, look at me. Look at  _ me. _ Deep breaths, just like this, okay? One…. two…. One…”

Liah watched as Adler tried to get Keeva to calm down, and she quietly pulled herself to her feet and made her way back to the house, though probably without as much haste as she should have. It wasn’t her fault, though-  _ none  _ of this was her fault. It was  _ all  _ an accident!

Mother and father were talking quietly in the kitchen, seemingly about work from the few things Liah caught as she entered. Their expressions both fell as soon as they looked at her, so she could only imagine what her own expression looked like.

“Adler wants you, mother,” Liah said slowly. “Keeva’s hurt.”

Adia’s brows furrowed, and she immediately stood up and approached Liah, placing a hand on her bicep. “Hurt? Liah, what happened? You look like-”

“W-We were sparring, and I… I think his arm is broken,” Liah admitted, glancing between her parents.

_ “Broken?” _ her father said seriously, quickly putting the cup in his hand down onto the countertop. “What did you d-”

“It was an  _ accident!”  _ Liah said quickly, but before Paxa could say anything, Adia turned to him.

“Call Kasara, see if she’s home and can help him,” she insisted, starting to back out of the room. “Their house is closer than the medical facility, I’d rather have her take a look first.”

Paxa watched her rush out of the kitchen, then turned to Liah, and his stoic expression sent a chill down her spine. “We will discuss this later.”

“Father, I  _ didn’t mean-” _

“ _ Later. _ ” And with that, he left in the direction of his office, and Liah was left standing alone in the kitchen, unable to fight off the next shiver that crawled down her back.

\---

Adler had finally gotten Keeva to calm down enough to more-or-less slow his breathing down and even got him to count along the breaths with him. He had Keeva close his eyes to stop him from staring at his discoloured arm, but as he glanced down at it himself, Adler felt sick to his stomach. 

He did believe Liah hadn’t meant to actually break Keeva’s arm, if anything just by her completely baffled reaction when she realized what had happened, but Adler had also seen how she was looking at him just before she broke it. Keeva had been getting on her nerves during their spar more than normal, and with an unusual amount of energy, even for him, kept him popping back up each time Liah nearly won the matches. The three of them all knew how much Liah hated when he did that, but… still. Adler could hardly believe she’d really managed to break their brother’s arm purposefully, even if she hadn’t actually meant to follow through with it. The way she had her knee on his arm had been a threat, and Adler assumed she would force Keeva to call the round with it. Perhaps if she hadn’t been so exhausted, that’s what would have happened instead.

He heard rushing footsteps coming their way, and Keeva opened his eyes a little. Something about the sight of their mother coming towards them made him start to crumble back into tears and sobs again, and Adler did his best to keep reminding him to be calm.

“Oh, my baby- how did this happen?” she asked as she fell to her knees next to them and outstretched her hands. “Let me see, Keevie, let me see it.”

Keeva hesitated before weakly raising his bent arm from his lap. He whimpered in pain and muttered about not being able to stretch it out, and Adler gently pulled Keeva’s head against his chest, smoothing down his hair as he tried to quietly comfort his brother and tell him to keep breathing. Keeva seemed to slump further against Adler in response, and Adler leaned his head down to press his lips into Keeva’s hair, meeting his mother’s concerned eyes once she looked up from Keeva’s arm.

“Li-Liah b-b-broke it on p-purpose,” Keeva sniffled miserably. “S-She  _ hurt  _ me.”

“I don’t think she meant to follow it through, Keevs,” Adler tried to say, looking at the arm again.

“She  _ hurt me _ ,” Keeva repeated, a sad little sob coming out before he started to cry quietly again. Adler sighed and began talking him through breathing again.

“I think it’s broken, love, but papa is calling Kasara to see if she’s home to take a look at it,” Adia said gently, and she reached forward to wipe some of the tears from his cheeks. “Addie’s gonna help you up, and we’ll go inside, yes? Can you be my tough little boy and stop crying for now?”

Keeva mumbled something Adler didn’t catch, but Adia smiled softly at him and gently ruffled his hair. “Yes, I promise. Your arm will be just fine, it’s just going to hurt while it gets better, love.”

Adler felt Keeva nod a little bit at Adia, and he very slowly and gently got to his knees so that he could help his little brother stand on shaking legs before he stood up fully himself. Keeva stayed pressed up against Adler’s side, holding his arm to his chest again with quiet little sniffles, and Adler looked to his mother worriedly. She met his eyes, and he could see that she was relieved, despite her worry. Her relief, wherever it was coming from, eased his internal panic enough to allow him to take a deep breath and gently rub Keeva’s back as he started to walk. “C’mon, Keevie, it’ll be alright,” he said as confidently as possible.

They got inside, and Adler noticed both his father and sister absent from the bottom floor of the house, but Paxa emerged from his office and met them in the kitchen moments later. 

“Kasara says she’d be glad to look at Keeva’s arm,” he said to Adia first, then looked between Adler and Keeva with a bit of distasteful coldness that made Adler hug Keeva to his side a bit more firmly. Paxa walked over and outstretched a hand toward Keeva. “Let me see, son.”

Keeva’s watery eyes looked up at Paxa with a trembling lip, and he said quietly, “I.. can’t stretch it…”

“It’s not broken in the elbow, is it?” Paxa said tiredly. “Come now, you can stick it out.”

“I’ve already seen it, dear. It seems like just a fracture,” Adia said gently, using one of her hands to push Paxa’s away and the other to caress his cheek. Adler wished he knew how his mother could stand to be so gentle and understanding with him sometimes. “I’ll take the boys to Kasara’s, you check on Liah.”

“I’d like for Adler to stay here,” Paxa said, and Adler’s back stiffened. He was going to try to keep Adler away from Keeva. He hated when Adler tried to take care of and comfort Keeva like this. He glared at his father, whose expression flickered to annoyance before evening back out when he looked at Adia again.

“Darling, Keeva’s upset, and he’s hurt,” his mother reasoned gently, though Adler heard some tiredness behind her voice. “It’s all right-”

“You’re taking Keeva to the Nordrayns, everything there will be fine. Right now, don’t you think Liah needs Adler as well?” Paxa said, and Adler felt Keeva flinch against him.

“L-Liah doesn’t need Adler,” Keeva said firmly. “ _ I _ do! Sh-She hurt  _ me!” _

Paxa knelt down and looked Keeva in the eyes, and Adler shot his mother an irritated look. He could tell by the resignation and worry on her face, even though she didn’t look at him, that she’d already made up her mind. He grit his teeth and just tried to soothingly rub Keeva’s back again.

“Madal d'van ap ad, okay? Brother will be here when you get back, and I’m going to go have a talking to with Liah,” Paxa said in a softer tone that Adler knew was meant to manipulate Keeva. Usually, his little brother was immune to Paxa’s smooth talking, but the idea of Liah getting in trouble for hurting him must have appealed to him enough to be open to compromise. 

Keeva hesitated, then looked up at Adler, then at Paxa, then to Adler again and used his left hand to make a small “come here” gesture. Adler gave Paxa a hard look until their father reluctantly rose to his feet and took a step back, and Adler knelt down in front of Keeva. 

His little brother cupped his left hand over Adler’s ear and whispered softly, “Can we draw together when I get back?”

Adler smiled softly and turned his head to look at Keeva’s teary, pink-tinged, golden eyes and reached up to gently smooth his haid. “Etia, adano jura,” he said quietly and kissed his brother on the forehead. “Van ad nadal, vod” He let the Mandalorian word slip, knowing it would reassure Keeva just the slightest bit more and feeling confident that neither of his parents would catch it. It seemed to work, Keeva sniffing again and nodding at him with a sad look still on his face, but he turned and pressed against their mother’s leg, replacing his left hand on his right elbow to hug his injured arm to his chest again.

Adler returned the firm, irritated look at his father, slowly rising back up as Adia took Keeva out to the speeder.

“It is not a crime for him to want his big brother to stay with him to comfort him, and it is not a crime for me to want to be there to do so,” Adler said firmly once he heard Adia and Keeva leaving.

“It won’t do him any good for you to dote on him like a child his whole life every time something happens,” Paxa said cooly, turning to go upstairs, likely to find Liah.

“He  _ is _ a child!” Adler snapped behind him, tightening his fists at his sides. “He’s nine! He’s allowed to cry when he’s hurt and want his brother to make him feel better!”

“He’s  _ weak _ ,” Paxa returned over his shoulder as he neared the staircase. “And he makes  _ you _ weaker.”

Adler shouted with frustration as his father went upstairs, and he slammed his fists on the counter top, slumping over shortly after and lacing his fingers behind his neck. The fury at Paxa’s complete jealousy and hatred of Adler’s closeness with Keeva made his blood boil. He wished he could just go pick a fight with his father, especially after that comment about Keeva making him weak.

Keeva didn’t make Adler weak, he made him stronger. And the fact that their father could not see it meant  _ he _ was weak. Adler knew this for a fact.

\---

He heard Paxa start off talking “firmly” to Liah in the next room over before some of the shouting began. He heard Paxa telling Liah she was “lucky it wasn’t his left arm” that she broke. Liah repeated over and over that it had been an accident. Paxa didn’t care. 

Adler was torn. He believed his sister. He knew she hadn’t meant to break Keeva’s arm. But… the fact that her frustration with him had pushed her far enough to be able to do it at all was enough to give him pause. He sat on his bed and hugged his knees with a sigh and wondered if other fourteen year olds had such complicated family relationships.

Once Paxa had finished getting onto Liah, Adler heard him shut her door and go downstairs, and Adler looked around his bedroom and considered what he should do. He didn’t know what to say to Liah… But he felt guilty leaving her alone to stew in the aftermath of their father’s little show.

He didn’t know what to do. So he just tried to occupy his mind idly for a while before deciding he needed to talk to Liah. He figured his mother and Keeva would likely be back soon, and he wanted to check on her before he would be occupied with Keeva for the rest of the evening.

She opened the door after he knocked quietly once, and his heart broke a bit at her appearance. Liah, always the most put-together one of the three of them, had tears still glistening on her cheeks, which were still red from frustration and crying no doubt, and her hair was down in little waves cascading around her shoulders. She held a hairbrush in her hand that wasn’t holding the door.

“Are  _ you _ here to snap at me as well?” she said in a small, bitter voice. “Here to scold me for damaging  _ precious little Keevie?” _

Adler sighed and just reached forward and pulled his twin into a tight hug. She stayed stiff for a second before melting against him, holding him tight and pressing her face against his shoulder. After a moment, Adler carefully maneuvered them into her room and shut the door, just in case Paxa was anywhere nearby down the stairs.

Liah shuddered with a small, choked sob, and Adler just rubbed her back slowly. After a minute, she pulled away and kept her hands on his waist, staring him firmly in the eyes and said, “You believe I didn’t mean to hurt him, right Addie? You know I wouldn’t have broken his arm on purpose,  _ right?” _

“I believe you,” Adler said, reaching up to wipe her tears away. “I don’t think you meant to hurt him that bad.”

Her expression twinged. “But you think I  _ did _ mean to hurt him somehow?”

Adler sighed. “I know how the two of you get during spars like that, Liah,” he said slowly. “I can tell when he’s getting on your nerves, and I know you’re not above… roughing him up to get him to give in or call the round.”

“But  _ breaking his arm-” _ she began again, but he held up a hand to stop her.

“I know you didn’t mean to break his arm,” he insisted. “I just… I know you were frustrated with him, and I don’t think you should have set up to break his arm in the first place, even as an empty threat-”

“But it  _ was _ an empty threat, Adler!” Liah urged.

“But you still carried through,” Adler pointed out. He could see her about to slip to anger, so he quickly placed his hands on either side of her face and said, “I’m just saying, next time you’re frustrated with him,  _ you _ call the match and don’t threaten him with anything too drastic.”

“You’re just  _ so _ concerned for Keeva, no matter what,” she said bitterly, pulling away and strolling over to her vanity. “No matter that Father just yelled at me, refusing to listen to me, not caring about anything other than that I’ve ‘hurt Keeva’s efficiency for when he goes back to school next week,’ as if all that matters is that Keeva won’t be able to train for two months-”

“Liah, I’m concerned about you both, just in different ways,” he insisted, following her over. “I’m concerned for you for how upset you were, and of course because of how Father spoke to you.” She sighed, but refused to look at him, and he crossed his arms. “Look, I just wanted to check on you. But if you want some time alone, then I’ll leave you to it.”

As he crossed the room to go back out the door, he heard her say softly, “You know I never want to be alone from you. I just wish you’d take my side more often.”

Not knowing how else to explain that there weren’t any clear sides in this situation, he just told her he loved her and went back to his room.

\---

“Zoa insisted they be the first one to sign it, even though their mom said she’s just gonna have to replace it when the  _ real _ cast covering comes in,” Keeva was saying, showing off his temporary cast Kasara Nordrayn had put on his arm. His little fingers stuck out and wiggled in attempted gestures as he spoke, but he seemed to be doing well enough at keeping his arm still for now.

Adler gave him a little smile and took Keeva’s dinner plate over to the sink with his own. “That’s pretty cool. Did Sebgio and Bren want to sign it too?”

“Sebbie did, but Bren said she only saves her autographs for ‘finished works,’ which doesn’t really make sense, but she’s five, so I guess nothing she says makes sense.” He hummed thoughtfully, and Adler laughed.

“Kasara gave him something for the pain, and he’s been talking nonstop again ever since it kicked in,” Adia whispered to him at the sink. Adler turned and saw Keeva inspecting his cast and mumbling to himself, and he couldn’t help but laugh again.

“As long as he’s not in pain, he can talk as much as he wants,” Adler mused, kissing his mother on the cheek before going back over to Keeva. He rested his elbows on the counter and caught Keeva’s eyes. “You still want to go draw?” he asked, and his brother’s eyes widened with excitement, scooting himself off the hightop chair and grabbing Adler’s hand.

“Yes! I think you should use the blue book today, the one with the leaves in it. Maybe tomorrow we can go get more leaves! Do you think you can fit any more leaves in there? What if it rains and they’re too wet? Maybe we can just draw them if it rains-” 

Adler smiled as Keeva continued to ramble, jumping from one thought to the next, and led them upstairs. They walked into Adler’s room and Adler went over to his desk and sat down as Keeva pulled an ottoman over to Adler’s right to perch on.

“So the blue journal, huh?” Adler said as he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the familiar sketchbook. It was a simple hardcover book, filled with lineless pages, and it had a thin gold pattern along the spine. 

“Yes!! That one’s the best,” Keeva said, he hopped up on the ottoman and pushed Adler’s cup holding his drawing pencils over towards the journal. He held his right arm close to his chest as he used his left hand to start poking through the pencils.

“Is your arm hurting again?” Adler asked gently, gesturing to the cast.

Keeva looked down at it and said, in a smaller voice, “No. It just feels weird. It’s like… My arm is heavy and light at the same time.”

Adler pointed to Zoa Nordrayn’s neat signature near the top of the inside of Keeva’s arm. “You want me to sign it like Zoa did?”

With a little gasp, Keeva looked up, eyes wide and a little grin on his face as he nodded quickly. “Yes! You need your markers!” He reached over across Adler’s desk and picked up another holder with a variety of his coloured markers and gave Adler another big smile. “You can pick the colour!”

“Thank you,” Adler said with a laugh. He selected a dark purple, and Keeva turned his body so that Adler wouldn’t bump his elbow into his chest as he wrote. Keeva was bouncing just slightly, even humming a little, and Adler felt himself warming with relief and happiness to see Keeva in such good spirits, especially considering how the rest of the day had gone. He wrote his name down towards the wrist and drew a little duck and a flower next to it. Keeva gasped again when he looked at it and made an excited noise.

“It’s a little duck!!” he said, and before Adler could say anything, Keeva jumped up and was out of the room calling for their mother. Half a second later, his head and shoulders popped back in the doorway and he said, “You draw first!! I’ll be right back!” Adler couldn’t help but laugh as Keeva disappeared again and ran down the stairs. Adia called at him to be careful, but cheered up when Keeva showed her his cast. Adler’s face warmed up a bit as he heard the pair of them fawning over the drawing being cute, but he set to work, opening the journal and flipping through to find some empty pages. 

The book held various pressed leaves and dried flowers among other drawings and sketches Adler had done for the last few months, but it was mostly filled up with pages split between drawings Adler did and drawings Keeva did. They’d play a game where one of them would start drawing, and the other would add on, going until the page was filled and there was a scene of some kind filling it up. Keeva often invented stories for things going on in the pages, and there were many times where Adler ended up drawing most of the things on the page, generally filling out Keeva’s requests and suggestions as he constructed a tale for each page. Keeva made it clear he had no interest in developing a skill for drawing, but Adler suspected he mostly just liked doing it simply because Adler did, following his big brother’s example and allowing Adler to take over once Keeva had grown bored of sketching. 

Still, Adler supposed this was the book he cherished the most out of all his little sketchbooks and journals, just because it held these warm memories of spending time with Keeva. He made a mental note to start storing it somewhere safer… His father’s increasing frustration with Adler’s continued closeness with Keeva made him nervous. Paxa had destroyed one of Adler’s sketchbooks before in a fit of anger as “punishment”, and if he were to ever strike again, Adler had to make sure that this book would always be safe.

Keeva’s voice pulled him from that upsetting train of thought as he ran back in the room and hopped back up on the seat to Adler’s right. “You haven’t even started!” Keeva said in surprise, tapping his finger on the open page.”

“I was admiring our old stuff,” Adler told him with a little laugh. “I really like the ones where you end up drawing more than me.”

“Ugh,” Keeva said with distaste, plucking a pencil out of the holder cup and then scooting the book between them so that he could flip to a clean page. “Please, brother, I will never be the artist you are. I’m more of an  _ ideas man. _ ”

“Yes, I’m well aware,” Adler said, snorting and picking a pencil for himself.

“Here, I’ll start then,” Keeva said, scooting the book towards him a bit more so that he wouldn’t be elbowing Adler, and he began drawing. “Sebgio showed me this new thing he got from the Spirits festival last weekend. It’s a weird little cube thing, but it’s a puzzle. He said some old Jedi was visiting and gave it to him for free, that it is meant to resemble a thing called a holocron, but that this is just like a little game-toy-thingy. But Sebbie did the whole thing and then it clicked open and started to glow and change colours!”

“That sounds pretty cool,” Adler said. “I’ll have to go over there soon so he can show me.”

“Yeah!! Mother said we might be having a group picnic this weekend, so perhaps he can bring it then.” Keeva pushed the book back to Adler, and Adler found that Keeva had drawn several books laid on top of each other.

“Books, huh?” Adler asked, smiling a little and tapping his pencil against the page.

Keeva hummed and sat back to watch Adler draw. “Yes, I think I’m going to reread  _ The Knight of the Stars  _ tonight.”

Adler snorted and glanced at his brother. “You said that book was more boring than your studio classes.”

“I’m hoping it will prove more enlightening the second time around,” he said with a sigh. “And if not, I’ll just stop and begin something better.” He leaned his head over and grinned at the book as Adler drew. “Ah, millaflowers. Excellent choice, brother.”

“Why thank you, brother,” Adler said, snickering as he finished and passed the book to Keeva. His little brother began rambling again, and Adler just looked at him, feeling a mix of adoration, worry, relief, among many other things swirling inside him as his eyes roamed over Keeva’s small self. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he worried about Liah again, but Adler sighed. Liah would be inconsolable for a while. He’d simply have to speak to her later.


	6. Fractured [part 2]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> same trigger warnings as the previous chapter

Keeva refused to acknowledge Liah. It had been four days since the incident, and Adler was beginning to feel the pair of them pulling him, trying to force him to take one side or the other. He decided that enough was enough, that he had to try to get them to return to speaking terms somehow.

He figured Keeva would be a little easier to speak with, seeing as he felt no resentment towards Adler while Liah was still giving him frosty shoulders.

Keeva sat on his bed, idly writing in a notebook. He jumped a little when Adler knocked on the open doorway and nodded when Adler requested to enter.

“What are you writing?” he asked as he closed the door behind him and approached Keeva’s bed.

“I’m thinking of a pattern I want for a new jacket,” Keeva said with a sigh. Adler noted the Futhark written in short lines and a little drawing of a jacket to the side with some of the oval letters already mapped out. “I was going through my closet last night and found that I’ve finally grown out of my more casual jackets, and since the weather is getting chilly, Mother said I can get a new one if I donate my old ones.”

“That sounds like a pretty good deal to me,” Adler commented, and Keeva hummed in agreement. Adler hesitated, reluctant to ruin Keeva’s even mood, but he needed to broach the subject. “I was actually wondering if we could talk about Liah.”

Keeva stiffened and paused his hand over the notebook, he kept his eyes on the page, but Adler saw anger and hurt go across his little face. “I don’t want to talk about her,” he said quietly.

“C’mon, Keevie. Can’t you at least give her the chance to apologize?” Adler asked, sitting tentatively on the foot of Keeva’s bed and feeling relief when Keeva didn’t ask him to leave.

“I don’t  _ want _ her apology. I want her to stay away from me forever,” Keeva said with a huff, and he began sketching again.

“She’s your big sister, she can’t stay away from you  _ forever, _ ” Adler tried to reason.

“Then at least until Mother and Father send me back to school,” Keeva resigned firmly. “I don’t want her to speak to me ever again.”

“That’s a long time for her to go without speaking to you.” Adler sighed when Keeva didn’t say anything, but he could tell there was something eating away at his little brother. “Is there something else that’s bothering you? Did she.. Do anything else to upset you?”

“She  _ broke my arm, _ Adler!” Keeva snapped, finally looking up at him, and Adler could see tears already welling up in Keeva’s golden eyes. 

“I- I know she did, Keeva, and she shouldn’t have gone into that position, but it was an accident-” Adler tried, but Keeva cut him off.

“No! She  _ hurt me! _ She really hurt me this time!” his little voice said, and Adler supposed his expression reflected the confusion he felt, because Keeva kept going as a few tears broke free and began their ways down his cheeks. “She threatens to do this and do that all the time! And she beats me in sparring all the time! B-But this time- she- she hurt me _ bad!” _

Adler’s heart wrenched in his chest. Keeva was upset because of how badly Liah had actually hurt him, regardless of intention. He felt a little sick, remembering how he’d felt the same horror that Liah had been able to actually carry through such an act against Keeva, even as an accident.

But to Keeva, it was so much worse for some reason. Adler was about to ask why when Keeva dipped his head and scrubbed his face with his left hand, sniffling and speaking again, more quietly now. “I- I know Liah doesn’t… I know she doesn’t like me anymore. B- But I- I never… I didn’t think she would ever really  _ hurt _ me s-so bad,” he said, his voice breaking and getting weaker as he spoke, and Adler watched his eyes shut tight when more tears went down his cheeks. “Sh-She b-broke my  _ arm- _ and she- she only f-feels bad because F-Father is so m-mad, b-but-”

“Keeva,” Adler muttered, quickly moving the notebook and forgotten pencil aside and pulling Keeva into a hug, carefully minding his broken arm, but pulling Keeva’s head close to his chest. He rested his cheek on top of Keeva’s head and shut his eyes tight as Keeva wrapped his left arm around Adler and started crying quietly into his chest. “Keeva, I… I didn’t realize she’d… hurt your feelings in this way,” he said gently.

“Sh-She betrayed me,” Keeva mumbled. “Sisters aren’t supposed t-to h-hurt their brothers this b-bad, even if- if they don’t like them.”

Adler didn’t even know where to start. He didn’t know what to say. He felt like crying himself just knowing that Keeva thought Liah didn’t  _ like _ him- Adler knew Liah loved Keeva, and hopefully Keeva knew that too, but… Oh, stars…

“It’s alright,” Adler said quietly, kissing Keeva’s head and rubbing his back gently as his brother cried. “Keeva, Liah loves you so much… I know she feels bad about this, I promise. It’s okay to be upset, though. I’ve got you.” Keeva didn’t say anything back, he just cried until his little body couldn’t cry anymore, and Adler held him in his lap as he trembled and quietly tried to talk about something other than their sister. Adler just held him, tried to comfort him, and tried to think of where to even begin with Liah.”

\---

“We have to talk, now,” Adler said as he walked towards Liah who stood near the lake behind their house.

“You sound very serious,” Liah noted with a sigh, crossing her arms and turning to look at her brother. “This must be about Keeva.”

“Liah, you don’t understand how much you hurt him-” Adler began.

“Of course I know, Adler. You think Mother and Father haven’t filled me in on the severity of my actions by now? Do you think I’ve just been idly staying to my room for my own benefit and not because I’m tired of seeing their frustrated and disappointed faces every time I enter a common space?” Liah snapped, popping off right away and getting straight to the point. Alder paused, surprised by her outburst, and she scoffed at him. “I know exactly how much I hurt him, Addie. I don’t  _ need _ another lecture.”

“I don’t think you do, though,” Adler said gently, and he held up his hands as she inhaled to object, and he decided to stay put and allow the five or so feet between them remain for now. “Just- Just hear me out. I talked to Keeva this morning… Liah, he thinks you don’t  _ like  _ him. He told me that he noticed you ‘stopped liking’ him, but that he’s most hurt because he never thought you could hurt him as severely as you did.” Liah looked surprised, but it was in a way that seemed as though she’d just realized something, and she frowned, crossing her arms tighter against her chest.

“Well- I  _ don’t _ like him most of the time,” she said, huffing a little and looking somewhere else across the yard.

“Liah,” Adler said, but she gave him an insistent look.

“Honestly, Adler! I don’t! He’s loud and obnoxious and frustratingly persistent and doesn’t listen and runs around so much-  _ ugh, _ he’s entirely frustrating, and many days, I prefer to limit my interaction with him,” she ranted, glaring off towards the trees before sighing and giving him a complex look. “But- I mean.  _ Of course _ I love him. Despite how frustrating much of his personality is, he’s still my little brother. I would prefer it if he didn’t hate me, nor I him.”

“Of course he doesn’t hate you, Liah, but he… I think he’s really hurt that you don’t like him. Not the way you used to get on with him when he was younger,” Adler said slowly. He didn’t know how to feel. He hadn’t wanted to believe that Liah truly didn’t like Keeva, but hearing it straight from her mouth, he wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. He just… felt sad…

“I don’t know what to tell you, Addie, I’m trying to be honest with you,” she said, throwing her hands up a little. “Keeva was much more tolerable when he was littler. He’s so much more defiant now, and his hyperactivity has only gotten  _ worse _ . His rambling sets my teeth on edge, and the way he’s so…  _ unorganized _ and has absolutely no focus drives me completely up the wall!” She groaned and rubbed her forehead, moving one hand to her waist. “I don’t think Keeva likes me either, so I don’t see why this is so hurtful to him. You’re the only one who believes I didn’t mean to hurt him, so I don’t-”

“I don’t think Keeva thinks you meant to break his arm on purpose either, Liah,” Adler interjected. “But… he’s most hurt because you were able to hurt him so badly regardless… I think he thinks that you feel so lowly towards him that you were able to so easily fracture his arm, a severe injury compared to anything that’s ever happened before.”

“Well- I don’t know then, Adler! I did it. I broke his arm. It wasn’t hard because he’s so little, and if I could go back, I would’ve put him in a different position. But I can’t. All I can do is tell him I didn’t set out to break his arm on purpose, I just wanted to get him in check. And if he’d look at me for the two seconds it would take me to say that, then that would be lovely, because I am  _ so tired  _ of repeating myself like this!” She groaned with frustration and dropped down to sit in the grass, putting her head in her hands for a moment before smoothing her ponytail back.

Adler hesitated. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. He couldn’t tell how much regret Liah felt because she broke Keeva’s arm and hurt him and how much was simply because of the backlash she was receiving from them all. But he could see clear as day on his twin’s face that she was hurting too. She felt alone. Adler wanted to comfort her, but he needed her to understand he didn’t think what she did was okay. But… she  _ must _ know that he felt that way. If Adler comforted his sister, Keeva would feel betrayed by him. If he left her here like this, she would feel alone and resentful. 

He hated being so stuck between them like this. He missed when they were younger and Keeva and Liah got along so well. He missed the days where Liah would play with him out here in the meadow and teach him etiquette and dress him up as they pretended to be going to parties. He missed when things were simpler. 

He didn’t think there was any hope for how their father treated Keeva now, but perhaps… After this incident, Liah and Keeva would be able to mend things. He just had to try to get them on the same page.

So Adler sighed and knelt down next to his sister, putting his arms around her and pressing his face against her shoulder as she quickly hugged him back. They were twins- he could feel how deeply this had hurt her, and he knew that there was no comparing his siblings’ pain. They were both upset, both hurt in different ways, and as much as he hated being stuck in the middle like this, he desperately wanted them to get along again.

“I think if you go to him gently, he will listen to you,” Adler said as he rubbed her back. “I’ll go with you and make sure he listens to you.” Liah hummed with a bit of a whine, so he added, “Liah you’re his big sister… You have to talk to him, please.”

Her head turned so that her face pressed into his neck, and he could feel her grimacing as she tightened her arms around him. “Fine,” she breathed after a minute. “But you make sure he doesn’t pick a fight first.”

\---

“I  _ told _ you I didn’t want-”

“Keeva, you need to listen to what she has to say,” Adler said firmly, and Keeva’s confident shoulders flinched, hunching down a little as he realized that Adler wasn’t going to cave into him. He pulled his knees to his chin and wrapped his left arm around them, his right arm moving to join before resting at his side while he pouted at Adler. He heard Liah sigh behind him, and Adler stepped back, gesturing between his siblings. “Listen to her first, do not interrupt her, alright? Liah deserves for you to hear what she wants to say.” Keeva opened his mouth to object, then closed his lips with another grumpy pout and turned his eyes to the floor.

Adler turned and looked at Liah, relaying silently that this was her cue to go. She had a pensive expression, though he could tell she was feelings something deeper that she was hiding from him well. She stepped forward until she stood next to Adler, about seven or so feet away from Keeva on the living room couch, and she crossed her arms tight across her chest.

“Thank you. Now, Keeva, you  _ must _ know I didn’t truly mean to break your arm, despite the fact that I did so,” she began, her voice even, though Adler could detect the apologetic tones beneath it. He knew Keeva could hear them too, despite him frowning and pressing his face into his left arm. “You were riling up my nerves that day, and I didn’t even mean to put you in that kind of a check. That does not change the fact that I did it, and you must believe me that I didn’t intend to break your arm or hurt you so badly-”

“I think you don’t care that you broke it,” Keeva interjected, lifting his chin up quickly, mimicking a quirk the pair of them shared when they tried to assert defiance or cockiness. “I think you did whatever you wanted to shut me up!”

“Keeva,” Adler said firmly. “Let Liah speak.”

“No, it’s alright, Addie,” Liah said, stiffening her shoulders and keeping her golden eyes on Keeva’s matching irises. “You’re right, Keeva, in that I just wanted to shut you up. But I  _ do _ care that I broke your arm. I would never wish such an injury upon you, especially not by my own hands. You’re my little brother-”

“But you don’t mind that I got injured so long as you got what you wanted,” Keeva sneered, though it was weak behind the emotion threatening to break his voice. “You always get what you want at my expense! You think just because I don’t always do what you want anymore means that I don’t notice how you really act and think towards me! Well I  _ do!” _

Adler had to bite his tongue and force himself to stay still and silent, his eyes flicking to Liah as he caught her expression waver slightly.

“Don’t forget that you get what you want at  _ my _ expense too,  _ baby brother, _ ” she said firmly. “And what is it exactly that you think I  _ really _ think about you, hm? You believe you are so perceptive that you know everything about everything that I do?”

“I know that you don’t like me anymore! And that you don’t ever want me around anymore!” Keeva snapped, hopping off the couch and standing up as he glared up at Liah. “Father gets mad at me all the time, and you just do whatever he does too! You don’t like anything I do because it isn’t always what  _ you _ want me to do! So you get mad at me too, and you hurt me! And you’re not even sorry that you  _ hurt me!” _

Adler watched the emotions go across Liah’s face in quick succession- irritation, anger, frustration, surprise, sadness, and defensiveness.

“Your frustration at Father has nothing to do with me. And you’re wrong, because I  _ am _ sorry I hurt you-”

“Only because Father yelled at you-”

“Do you even listen to me when I speak?” Liah shot back, anger now stepping forward again in her tone. “I told you that I would never want you to get hurt like this! I didn’t mean to-”

“But you still did it!”

“I can’t take it back, Keeva!” Liah threw her hands up in exasperation, and met with equality the daggers Keeva stared up at her. “I cannot magically mend your broken bone, nor can I time travel and remove myself before I pressed my knee down and fractured it in the first place! All I can do now is try to tell you that it was not my intention to hurt you and wish, seemingly  _ in vain _ , for you to understand that it was an accident so that we may simply move on!”

“Well I wish you could go back in time so you could go back to when you were nicer to me!” Keeva shot back, lifting his left hand to point at her. Adler was furiously wondering if he should interject when he noticed Keeva’s hands trembling, and he suddenly remembered Keeva’s…  _ connection _ with the Force. If Keeva didn’t calm down, Adler suspected things were about to start getting accidentally thrown around-

“I don’t know why you’re so hung up on me being nice to you and liking you!” Liah returned, completely oblivious to Adler as he began stepping towards them. “You’re plenty rude to me! You don’t like me that much anymore either!”

“Because I liked you better before you started getting mad at everything I do! I can’t ever do anything right! All you want is for me to do what you say, but you never want to do what  _ I _ want or what  _ I _ say!”

“But Keeva, you do the-”

“But  _ you’re _ the big sister! You’re supposed to be nice to me first! And then you stopped, and you don’t even care about me anymore!” Keeva said with furious tears streaming down his cheeks. He threw his hands forward towards Liah before storming off towards the staircase, likely to go back to his room. Alder noticed the chair behind Liah scoot backwards a little and its pillows fall off as Keeva gestured towards her, and he quickly moved in front of Liah, stopping her as she moved to follow after him.

“Get out of my way, Adler!” she snapped.

“You both need to cool down-” he started to say.

“You said you’d make him listen to me!” 

“I- I did, but then you seemed to be getting somewhere when you started arguing-”

“He didn’t hear a word I  _ said-!” _

“Well did you hear a word  _ he  _ said?” Adler said firmly, and she huffed, staring at him with a dangerous glare, though Adler gestured towards the stairs and crossed his arms, unwavering. “He told you everything he was feeling, exactly why he’s upset! You said you didn’t understand why he was feeling that way, but he told you explicitly why, Liah! You need to listen to him first, and then he will listen to you-”

“That doesn’t even make  _ sense- _ ”

“It  _ does _ if you stop for two moments and consider it!” Adler urged her with exhaustion. He dipped his head and ran a hand through his hair before lifting his palms towards her tiredly. “Just… think about what he said to you, alright? Mother and Father will be home soon, and I need to make sure he isn’t still crying when they get back. Just… think about it, and breathe, and I’ll be back in a few minutes to help you clean up the kitchen like Mother and Father asked us to do.”

Liah didn’t seem satisfied with his words, but she didn’t bristle against him again. She simply turned away and stormed off towards the kitchen without a word. Adler sighed and jogged upstairs to check on Keeva.

\---

He wasn’t sure what had changed in the last two days, but he was relieved for it. Adler leaned against the glass wall that looked out to the garden and watched as Keeva and Liah sat together in the grass talking. He had stumbled upon this scene a few minutes ago as he was actually seeking his twin out, and although he couldn’t hear them from behind this window, he could read their body language just fine. Nothing volatile or hostile yet, which was good.

Keeva lifted his left hand and scrubbed some tears away from his eyes, and Liah pulled her legs to her chest, neither of them looking at each other directly.

“Are they all right?” he heard his mother ask quietly. Adler turned and saw her standing behind him, peering out at her children as well.

“I… think so,” Adler said, turning to watch Liah and Keeva again. “They sort of had a big fight the other day, but I think Liah went to him to apologize.”

“Did she?” Adia asked with a bit of surprise. “That’s very big of her to do so.”

“Well, I think… she hopefully realized how much she hurt his feelings. And it seems as though Keeva is finally willing to listen to her,” Adler observed. Liah reached over and gently ruffled Keeva’s hair, and he, without looking at her, shifted himself until he was leaning against her a little bit. It seemed like a likely uncomfortable position, but Adler imagined they were both doing their best. He and his mother made sounds of adoration at the same time, then looked at each other with a smile.

“C’mon, Addie, let’s go get something special started for lunch,” his mother said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and glancing outside again. “It’s not every day those two get along or make up, so we should celebrate it, don’t you think?”

Adler laughed and wrapped his arm around her waist, leaning into her hug and allowing her to lead him back towards the main area of the house. “I suppose you’re right, Mother,” he said. “I bet we have everything to make the three-leaf layer loaf- that’ll keep them in good spirits.”

“That sounds  _ perfect, _ ” Adia said, and she kissed Adler’s head as they got to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the "three leaf layer loaf" mentioned at the end is basically vegetable lasagna LMAO the name is just terrible


	7. Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warnings:
> 
> mentions of the death of a minor/teenager, mentions of death
> 
> SO this takes place in 9 BBY, same time as our game and not far from the current exact day and time our sessions are in right now. 
> 
> paxa is the nabooian senator, appointed by sheev himself, so he spends most of his time on coruscant for work, leaving adia at home to raise paxson, their youngest son who is 10 in this moment. kasara, adia's best friend, lost her wife and two of her kids during the clone wars, so she lives with adia and helps her raise paxson. more info in the end notes

“You  _ knew! _ ” Adia snarled, slamming her hands down on Paxa’s desk.

The man stared at her with not enough lack of shock for Adia to know her suspicions had been correct.

“Darling, I-”

“Don’t you  _ dare _ ‘darling’ me, Paxan Myrni Caraxio! Don’t you  _ dare! _ ” she snapped in an even tone, pointing her finger towards him. The single ounce of anxiety in his expression brought her some satisfaction, but she could feel herself starting to shake with rage. “You knew. All this time, you knew. You betrayed me.”

“Please, Adia, sit, and we can discuss-” Paxa tried, his tone still even, but trying to convince her to calm down. 

“You will  _ not _ try to speak to me as if I am one of your sodding political weasels! I will not be played by your hand, Paxa.  _ Not anymore. _ ” Adia furiously pulled the bounty puck from her pocket and clicked it on before very carefully setting it on the desk between them. Paxa stared her in the eyes, ignoring the bounty holo that came up that had a twenty-year-old boy with the name  _ Keeva Caraxio _ spelled out clear as day. They held eye contact. Paxa didn’t need to look at the holo. He’d already seen it. She knew he had. But she wouldn’t be the first to speak this time.

“We can talk about this-” Paxa began.

“Have you known all along that he was alive?” Adia said. “Have you known every single day for the last six years that my son  _ was alive _ , and have you looked me in the eyes, held me while I cried, watched me  _ grieve _ while you  _ knew he was alive?” _ Paxa opened his mouth, and Adia leaned in towards him slightly, staring at him over the holo of their son. “Choose your words very carefully, Paxa. You  _ will _ tell me the truth.”

She watched several thoughts pass through his eyes, and he finally sighed, reached over and turned off the bounty puck, and laced his fingers together in front of him. “Fine,” he said coolly. “I had suspicions that he was alive since that day on the star destroyer. But I had no proof either way, and if he had survived the ordeal, it would have meant he’d helped that prisoner escape and betrayed us. A traitor in the family would have ruined all of our careers, our lives, and if he wasn’t actually dead, it seemed he was as good as.”

Something within Adia snapped as she listened to the man speak. She saw no hint, no sign of the man she used to love. She tried to look at the face she’d stared at for the last thirty years and find any resemblance to the man she’d fallen so in love with, had four children with, wanted to spend the rest of her life with- but there was none. She only saw a cold, calculating politician who cared for nothing except the advancement of his own interests, no matter what the cost. 

She felt unspeakable fury. The things she’d let slide or tried to work through over the years, all the arguments and fights between Paxa and the children, the fights between the pair of them over his increasing distance as he moved higher and higher up in his career- things she’d worked with and tried to compromise with for the sake of the love for her husband and the love for her children. Only to now find out… Part of that love had been gone for a long time.

“Adia, darling, you must understand-” he tried, seemingly a little anxious about her strict silence, but she held up a hand and straightened her back.

“I understand perfectly. Keeva did not fit your mold for who you wanted him to be, so you allowed him to be dead. You allowed his mother to fall apart with grief over the death of her son-”

“I kept our family  _ together!  _ I kept us stable, strong-!” 

“You pushed Adler away after his accident, refused to learn sign language for him-”

“It was ridiculous when he could have regained the ability to speak-”

“You  _ lied to me _ ,” she said slowly, enunciating each syllable clearly and with particular weight. “You destroyed this family. You have ruined us.”

“I have done  _ no such thing- _ ” Paxa snapped, rising from his seat and pointing to her, but Adia slashed a hand through the air, and she felt satisfaction as his finger flinched back. 

“I would have preferred my son alive and not serving the Empire than dead and fending for himself somewhere in the galaxy, likely trying to chase a life for himself rather than the life his father was imposing upon him! I would have preferred to lose my career than my son! His life is worth more than my own desires! His life is worth more than this Empire!” she ranted, her volume increasing as her adrenaline rose and her fury ignited her senses. She felt tears burning in her eyes as she glared into Paxa’s. 

“His  _ life _ -” the man began, but Adia was not having any of it.

“I don’t know when his life began to mean so little to you, but I wish I’d seen it at the time,” Adia said, now somehow in a much calmer voice.

“And what would you have done?” Paxa snapped bitterly. “Taken the children and left me? Run home to Alderaan? Leave your career and home and husband for-”

“That would have been better than  _ this! _ ” she snapped right back, lifting a hand as she began counting on her fingers. “My oldest son with a severe injury that will never let him speak again, my daughter turned bitter and cruel under the influence of her father, my middle son spending six years believed to be dead where I mourned and mourned and lost a piece of myself that can never be fixed, and my youngest son who has grown up without knowing the love of his father nor his next oldest brother who was ripped from his life nor his oldest brother who is kept away for so many weeks at a time!” She opened her hand and gave Paxa a disgusted sneer. “My children would have been better off if I’d taken them and gone back to Alderaan, yes.”

“A pity, then, since you’re seemingly so disappointed with these outcomes,” Paxa said nastilly, crossing his arms. “What do you intend to do now then, hmm, Adia? Are you going to try chasing Keeva down yourself? I’m afraid there are much more powerful agents who prefer him first, and they’ve offered more credits than the worth of a mother’s love for him.”

“The only thing that matters to you is this,” Adia said, removing a datapad from her coat and tossing it to Paxa, who caught it with ease. He raised an eyebrow at it, then her. “Marriage annulment forms. I expect your signature on each one of those forms and sent to the proper offices within the Naboo council, immediately.”

His jaw dropped, and his shock only infuriated her more, but she was determined to keep her composure now. “You  _ cannot be serious- _ ” 

“Then you underestimate the love I  _ do _ feel for our children, and that makes you a fool, Paxa Caraxio,” she said sharply. “You betrayed me. You let me bury my son while he was alive and fending for himself alone in the galaxy. A fourteen year old boy who was never enough for you, thought it better to be kidnapped or fake his death than to follow his father.” She scoffed and straightened her back, tilting her chin up slightly with defiance. “You are a fool, and you are pathetic.”

She turned and began storming towards the door. Paxa called out behind her, “Adia! Adia,  _ stop this instant-!” _

“Sign those forms immediately, or I will be sending someone to ensure that you do so,” she threw over her shoulder, allowing his retort to be cut off by the door opening and closing as she left. She hardly registered anything until she found herself back in the speeder she’d taken to the Senate offices, and she quietly requested the driver return her to her lodging. She intended to try contacting Adler again once she landed. She’d been unable to contact him for almost two weeks, she’d discovered after trying to call him regarding something with Paxson. There was no way he wasn’t aware of Keeva’s survival now- Adler was too deep into the Imperial ranks to not know, and the only reason Adia had gotten hold of this was because a friend of Kasara’s stationed in the Outer Rim had caught wind of it through the Imperial grapevine and passed the info along. Adler was probably aware, but she needed to speak to him anyway. She needed to talk to her son. She would try to contact him again, and again, until she was successful. She wanted  _ answers. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> adia more or less retired from her job as a battlefield tactician shortly after paxson was born because she wanted to focus on raising her son and wasn't interested in serving the empire so directly. so she basically works from home, coordinating more under the table military operations, meaning she works a lot with bounty hunters and people the empire want jobs done by but don't want to be seen dealing with out in the open. this allows her to mostly work from home, which is good. this also means that she has sorta become friends with a lot of bounty hunters LMAO so when she threatens paxa that if he doesn't sign it, she'll make sure he does, she's threatening to like, send boba fett and bossk to go put blasters to his head while he signs them KJNSKJFS LIKE. SHE'S JUST THIS VERY KIND HEARTED LADY WHO IS ALSO VERY TOUGH AND SMART and the bounty hunters respect her and are pals with her and are more than happy to threaten this dickhead, shell of a husband who betrayed her like he did.
> 
> for context on paxa knowing about keeva surviving his "death", you can read about it in my other blip collection fic! here's a link to the two parter backstory from paxa's perspective. keeva is 14 in the backstory and 20 in current day. 
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/25995715/chapters/63204706
> 
> essentially, paxa decided that keeva betraying them was worse than if he'd actually died, so he told everyone that keeva was definitely dead because, to him, keeva was dead either way. which, of course, adia would never have agreed with. she loves her kids more than anything else, and would have happily been exiled from the empire or something so long as they were together. paxa, however, has grown to care more about power and status than his family within the last 15 years. it's very sad.
> 
> also, adler's "accident" adia refers to is an incident that happened arouunndd 12 bby where he got a throat injury that has left him essentially mute and he communicates through sign language now. he was offered a surgery shortly after the injury to try to repair his vocal cords, but he chose not to do it, much to paxa's frustration. so paxa has refused to learn sign language, relying on liah to translate whenever around (because in current day, liah and adler are very rarely apart).
> 
> anyway, i could go on, but there's a bit of context!!


	8. Confronted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after paxa and adler get into a fight, keeva confronts their father about how he treats his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warnings:
> 
> ABUSE!!! abuse abuse abuse!!!! this is a chapter that highlights how abusive paxa comes to be towards both adler and keeva as they got older. he resents them and the bond they share because he never had that type of bond with his brother, and it's a lot of internalized resentment and anger that he takes out on his kids. in this scene, keeva is 12 and adler is 17. it is 17 BBY.
> 
> SO. IN THIS BLIP THERE IS:
> 
> child abuse, physical abuse of a minor, emotional abuse of a minor, choking, physically hitting/beating/fighting, blood mention, paxa and keeva choke each other (keeva partially using the force to do so, though he doesn't realize it), verbal abuse, depression, i cannot break it down enough, paxa beats up his son, they get in a physical fight. injuries mention at the end, mentions of bruising and cuts. if parental abuse is triggering to u then don't read this i cannot stress this enough
> 
> \--
> 
> this blip is unfinished, so if i ever finish it, i'll just add to this chapter and relay here that the fic has been updated!!

Keeva tried to keep his hands from shaking as he carefully lined his brother's arm up and quickly shoved his shoulder back into place. Adler grunted and exhaled as he hunched forward and thanked Keeva. 

"Where'd you learn to relocate a shoulder?" he asked as his rolled his arm and tested the joint.

"I learn a lot of things at school. It's an expensive education," he mumbled. Adler turned and gave him an odd look, and Keeva felt his cheeks heat up. "Sorry. I learned a few months ago during an incident in training. A teammate yanked some other kid's arm out of its socket."

"Neither of those parties were you, were they?" Adler asked, a hint of teasing in his expression. Keeva spared him a small smile and shook his head. "Good. Now, please go back to whatever you were doing. I'm fine, I'm just going to go take a shower or something," Adler said with a sigh. 

Keeva pursed his lips. What he'd been  _ doing _ had been sitting around the corner listening to his father and Adler argue and get into a fight. He honestly had no idea what had come before that. He gently put his hands on either side of Adler's jaw and examined the split in his lip and the bruise under his left eye. He had no idea how Adler could still get hurt by their father when he was physically larger than him now, but Paxa always found a way.

"Are you sure you don't want me to get you anything for these?" he asked, eyes flicking to meet Adler's.

"I'm sure," Adler said firmly, taking Keeva's hands off his face and leaning down to kiss Keeva's head before gently butting his forehead against his brother's. "All I want is for you to go back to whatever you were doing and let this drop, alright?"

Keeva bit his tongue, not wanting to lie to his brother but knowing full well he was unable to do as he said. He waited until Adler pulled away and looked at him again to nod before excusing himself and going back to his bedroom. 

He sat at his desk simply staring at the blank tabletop until he heard Adler get into the shower as he'd said he would. Without pausing to think anymore on it, Keeva stood up from his desk with hands that wouldn't stop trembling even as he clenched them into fists.

He was sick of their father pushing Adler around. He was so sick of Adler getting hurt. He couldn't stand it anymore. Paxa got into physical arguments with him all the time, especially since Adler was away at school all the time and thus left him without any other punching bag but Keeva. But Keeva could take it. He could take whatever their father dished out at him. Right now, he  _ needed _ to stand up for Adler.

Keeva didn't remember storming all the way downstairs and to their father's study, but as soon as he checked that Paxa wasn't on a call, he strolled inside, ignoring the faintly surprised look he received, and he spat out in a dangerous tone, "Ada d'nest denca tacta Adler iter, capri'ad?!"

The look on his father's face was almost worth whatever the repercussions of his words would be. His eyes were wide, and his mouth fell open just a little. He'd been working on a datapad, and he slowly put his stylus down. 

" _ Excuse me? _ " Paxa said slowly.

Keeva tilted his chin up a little and stood up a little straighter. "You heard me, and I didn't stutter," he said with adrenaline-fueled confidence.

"Do you think it's tough or smart at all of you to come barging in here using that kind of language with me?" Paxa asked, standing up from his desk, but keeping his fingers on the tabletop.

"I'm  _ not _ tolerating you treating him like he's your pet to beat on every time you get frustrated anymore!" Keeva said, crossing his arms tightly to try and hide his shaking hands. "Do  _ you _ think it's tough to beat up your grown son every chance you get? Do you think it makes you strong and tough to get him to do whatever you want because he decided to stop fighting you back?"

" _ Ada sol vadi'shaeda! _ " Paxa snapped, storming around the desk. Keeva kept his composure, refusing to take his eyes away from his father's despicably similar golden hazel stare.

"You can call me a vadi'shaeda all you want, but it doesn't make me  _ wrong _ ," Keeva said firmly. Paxa reached forward to grab him, but Keeva quickly stepped back. "And now you're going to try to fight me? Do you think it's easier because I'm so  _ small? _ " he taunted, feeling satisfaction at the anger and redness spreading across his father's face. 

"You  _ will _ have respect for me!" Paxa snapped. He reached out to swing at Keeva, but the boy caught his wrist and yanked his father a few steps forward towards him.

"Not as long as you put your hands on my brother," he snarled, not even realizing his body was moving as he took the first hit and slapped Paxa hard across the face, the same way he'd seen his father do to Adler and the same way he'd done to Keeva, countless times.

Paxa didn't stay shocked nearly as long as Keeva would have liked, and his father managed to grab the front of Keeva's shirt and get his hand in motion towards a slap across Keeva's face before the boy was able to pry himself away and duck down, letting Paxa's intimidating amount of momentum send him staggering forward a step. Keeva sidestepped behind his father and shoved him away and almost into a bookshelf against the wall. 

"This is  _ your _ fault I'm so much better than you!" he said tauntingly. "You're the one who's made sure I've been trained to fight so much.  _ You're _ the one who says I'm not good for anything but being a soldier! And now you're getting mad because you don't stand a chance against your son who is, not only stronger than you, but refuses to submit to you!" He got louder and louder as he rattled off the accusations and emotions that ground against his resolve every day, unable to stop the words from slipping past his lips and not caring about how good it felt to say these things to his father's face. "This is  _ all _ your fault!"

"You pathetic, ungrateful little disaster," Paxa said in a dangerously low tone as he turned around to face Keeva again. Keeva hated how it hurt to be called pathetic by the father he despised so much. As he saw Paxa's face again, Keeva realized he wasn't sure he'd ever seen his father look so mad. "You  _ are _ good for nothing else but being a soldier. But you can't even be a  _ respectable _ soldier because you never shut your denca mouth, and you always run around sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," he said, and Keeva realized his father was using his "manipulative politician" voice. He stood up straighter, forcing himself not to be affected by his father's words. 

"It  _ is _ my business when it comes to Adler-" he tried to interject, but Paxa slashed his hand through the air between them and took a step towards Keeva.

"Always speaking out of turn, never shutting your damn mouth. You can't even  _ fight _ properly with honor either. All the years I spent making sure you were trained and fit only to be completely ignored for your own abhorrent self-interest and lack of mental discipline despite my  _ years _ of painstaking efforts!" Paxa continued. "You have  _ never _ been able to do anything  _ right-! _ "

Keeva clenched his fists and fought against grinding his teeth as he snapped back, "There is  _ nothing  _ wrong with  _ me-! _ "

"There is  _ everything _ wrong with you!" Paxa shot back instantly. "You never know your place, you never know when to quit, you can't take orders, you have the attention span of a slung-bettle, you  _ refuse _ to learn discipline just to prove some pathetic point to yourself- you can't even come in here to defend your brother without making things about  _ you _ because the only person Keeva  _ really _ cares about is  _ himself-! _ "

Keeva blinked and found himself shoving Paxa to the ground and punching his father in the ribs and the jaw. He dodged any swings Paxa threw at him and slipped away easily when his father tried to grab him in some kind of hold. He stood up and kicked his father hard in the leg. "You are the most despicable man alive!" he shouted, twisting as Paxa lunged up towards him and stepping aside to grab Paxa from behind. He wrapped his arms around his father, keeping his forearms pinned to his sides in a way to keep the man from reaching around and grabbing him. 

Unfortunately, his small size proved to work against him in this instance as his father was able to reach around, grab him, force Keeva to the ground, and pin him there. Keeva barely registered the hits to his face or the blows to his ribs and torso as his focus shifted between trying to plan  _ his _ next hit and the words Paxa continued to shower over him. 

"You are the most  _ worthless _ , useless child a parent could be burdened with!" Paxa continued. 

Keeva blocked a few hits as he regained his bearings and managed to get his legs between the pair of them and shoved Paxa away. He threw himself back on top of the man, forcing his knees against Paxa's biceps and pressing his left forearm to Paxa's throat. He leaned down until he was only a handful of inches from his father's face, and he seethed out, " _ You _ are the worthless one!!"

"Pathetic," Paxa snarled, but he started wheezing and choking under Keeva's pressure. Keeva didn't like the satisfaction he felt at watching Paxa suffering to breathe, and he felt as if he'd been drenched in ice-cold water all of the sudden. Fear of what he was doing suddenly struck him, and he quickly pulled away and scrambled up to his feet and away from Paxa.

He watched his father flip himself over, wheezing and coughing, and Keeva was quickly filled with guilt and dread he  _ did not _ want to feel. He took shaky steps backwards until he bumped into a bookshelf and watched with fear as his father slowly pulled himself to his feet. The look his father gave him when he finally turned around both made Keeva stand straighter with defiance as well as want to cower underneath something where Paxa wouldn't be able to reach him.

The thought of,  _ Maybe if he finally kills me now, he'll leave Adler alone _ , passed his mind just as Paxa stormed forward and grabbed him around the throat with one hand.

"Nothing left to say? Good. Then let me make something explicitly clear, Keeva Alexander Caraxio," Paxa said, and Keeva tried very hard to ignore the pressure closing his throat, and he grabbed onto Paxa's extended right arm to try and feel like he could regain any control at all.

"You are the most worthless, pathetic disappointment of a son. You never listen. You have no aspirations. You antagonize every situation you are ever encountered with. You are not strong enough to excel like your brother, nor are you clever enough to excel like your sister. If I could change things, I would go back and have you sent away to a place that would've taught you dignity and respect at a younger age so that perhaps you would've had more of a chance to grow into an actual respectable man instead of the ridiculous child you will always be." Every word out of Paxa's mouth was smooth and calculated. Keeva had heard him use the tone countless times during work, and even here and there to himself or Adler briefly when they got on his nerves. But he had never heard his father speak in this way to any of them in such capacity before.

Paxa's fingers tightening around his neck hurt worse than the guilt and dread and complete utter cold of hopelessness and hatred that stabbed through his skin and organs like tiny little blades meant to cut him up from the inside out.

\--

Adler heard a loud thud from his bedroom, where he'd just finished getting dressed after his shower, and something in him had a terrible feeling that the noise had to do with Keeva. 

He ran downstairs, skipping the last four steps and hurrying to their father's office where he heard a disgusting end-tail of a speech he was likely giving Keeva. The door to Paxa's office was open, and Adler stood dumbstruck for a painful few seconds as he realized what was going on.

Paxa stood with Keeva pinnned against one of his bookshelves, his hand tight around his twelve-year-old son's neck and holding him enough that Keeva's toes were just barely still on the ground. There was almost an entire foot of difference between their heights, and Keeva had not looked more like a small child in a very long time as he held onto Paxa's wrist with shaking hands while tears streamed down his face alongside choked wheezes and sobs tore out of his throat. There was blood mixed with tears all over the left side of his face, and Adler could already see bruises forming in a few other places on his face. He didn't want to imagine what sort of marks would be showing underneath his clothes.

Adler let too many heartbeats pass between the end of Paxa's horrible speech to Keeva and the sound of bis own voice shouting, "Get your hands off of him!!"

Keeva's eyes shut as he seemed to sob more, but Paxa turned to look at him and dropped Keeva half a second before Adler swung and hit Paxa in the jaw hard enough to send him stumbling back a step with a grunt.

"Brother to the rescue  _ again _ ," he sneered to his son, a slight rasp in his voice.

"Don't you  _ dare _ speak to him that way! And how dare you put your hands on him like that!" Adler snarled, shoving Paxa in the chest. "He is your  _ son! _ "

"Unfortunately so," Paxa snapped back, and Adler was kept from making another remark as he heard frantic footsteps rushing out of the room.

He turned to see Keeva nowhere in sight, and he quickly ran out of the office, deciding checking on Keeva was more important than another fight with their pathetic excuse of a father.

He ran through the kitchen and living room, calling his brother's name and trying to listen for where he could've gone. He was nearly through the den when he heard Keeva let out a terrible, strangled cry, and Adler noticed the door to the yard open. He rushed outside as fast as he could and finally found Keeva alone in the meadow outside their mother's garden, just as he fell to his knees.

Adler called Keeva's name again as he ran over, and he finally dropped to his knees in front of his little brother. Keeva was shaking almost to the point of convulsions, and the short little sobs mixed with gasps and whimpers were enough to incite panic within Adler.

"Keeva? Keevie, say something to me, vod- Keeva, can you hear me?" he asked, trying to desperately keep a sense of calm in his voice, but as he gently took Keeva's face in his hands, his brother's stare seemed a hundred miles away, and Adler couldn't tell the source of any injuries as the small amounts of blood on his face were all mixed with the tears and snot. Adler kept talking to him and very gently patted his cheeks to try and get his attention. Eventually, Keeva's eyes suddenly snapped to Adler's, and he felt a moment of relief. He leaned forward and started kissing Keeva's face gently, keeping one hand on Keeva's back and the other on his cheek.

"C-C-Cold," Keeva whimpered, looking down at himself, on his knees with his arms tightly wrapped around his chest. "Wh-Why is it s-so c-cold??"

Adler had no idea why Keeva would be freezing, seeing it was a particularly warm summer day, and he had no reason to be chilly at all. Keeva's face was hot. He began to worry that Keeva was making himself sick. 

"It's alright, Keeva. I'm right here, you're safe, okay?" Adler said as soothingly as possible. He pulled Keeva into his arms, sighing with relief when, after a scary few moments, Keeva finally hugged him back. His little hands dug into Adler's back so tight it hurt a little, but he wasn't about to try to make Keeva let go. He rubbed his little brother's back and held him close and tried to murmur soothing words, eventually pulling Keeva into his lap and rocking him gently.

It took a minute or two before Keeva seemingly finally broke down the rest of the way, and Alder renewed his comforts as Keeva choked and sobbed against him. Normally, he'd try to calm his brother down if he got upset like this, but… well, he'd only heard the very end of their father's cruel spiel, and there was no telling what other horrible things he'd said to make Keeva so upset. 

"Wh-Why-  _ Why _ h-have I never b-been  _ good _ en-enough?" he heard Keeva say weakly into his chest, and he felt Keeva's hands fall from his back as his little body just totally slumped forward against Adler's chest. The older brother carefully adjusted so that he was sitting cross legged and had Keeva sitting forward in his lap and resting against his chest. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but it was fine for now.

"Keeva," Adler said, taking his fingers under his brother's chin to bring his watery gaze up to meet his eyes. "You have  _ always _ been good enough. It's  _ him _ who isn't worth our time. He's awful and cruel for no reason other than he's too weak to feel good about himself without being manipulative and trying to control people he wants power over. You are nothing that he says about you."

"Y-You shouldn't have-have to do this," Keeva said miserably, his head falling forward so his forehead touched Adler's collarbones. He sobbed weakly, and it sounded like he'd been trying to restrain it. "Baby m-me like this… Th-That's why he g-gives  _ you _ a hard time."

"Keeva, that's not-" Adler said, stunned by the turn of conversation.

"I hear h-him when he scolds you for spe-spending so much time m-mollycoddling me, and I'm- I'm too old for this behaviour anyway, and I'm j-just- I'm just causing him to have m-more reasons to-"

"Keeva, stop!!" Adler said desperately, taking Keeva's face in both his hands and giving a very worried look in response to the guilt and sorrow on Keeva's face. "You're talking like you have any blame in the way he speaks to  _ either  _ of us. He can say whatever he likes, but the  _ only _ reason he says those things to me is because he is selfish and thinks that me having compassion for you is weak, which it's  _ not. _ " He carefully smoothed Keeva's hair out of his face as a breeze blew more of his curls out of his hopeless attempt to keep them back. "You know what Father's side of the family is like. That's how  _ he _ grew up. He and Uncle Mardan always competed and argued. He doesn't understand what it means to have a brother who takes care of him, but  _ you _ do, and that doesn't make either of us weak or pathetic."

"But- Y-You get scolded because of  _ me-"  _ Keeva started, but Adler shook his head and cut him off.

"No. He scolds me because of  _ him _ , do you understand me? Keeva,  _ please _ , I need you to understand that you are not, nor have you  _ ever _ been, the reason for his behaviour. The way he acts is  _ not _ your fault," Adler said desperately. Keeva looked conflicted, but so on the verge of tears again that Adler just pressed his forehead to Keeva's in a kiss, and quietly told him, "I will always protect you and stand up for you no matter what Father says or what the consequences are. You are my brother, and I love you."

He felt Keeva's hands on his cheeks, still trembling but not nearly as bad as before, and Keeva's small voice returned the sentiment in Nabooian. 

\--

Keeva insisted to Adler that he wasn't hurt anywhere other than the face, and when Keeva requested they lie about the bruises and cuts on their faces to their mother when she got home, he pointed out that Paxa had quite a few nicks from the pair of them and that it would be no use. Keeva felt bad about the stress this was going to cause her, but he didn't regret the fight with his father. It left him hurting more than just on his face and ribs, but the shocked expression after Keeva told him off and the split above Paxa's eyebrow from Keeva's fist left him satisfied enough to push his hurt to the back of his mind.

He managed to avoid his father for an entire twenty-four hours after Adler calmed him down in the garden. Adler let him sleep in his bed with him, and by the time he woke up in the morning, Adler told him that he'd already heard Paxa leave for work. Keeva mumbled a "good riddance" and laid in Adler's bed for another thirty minutes talking to his brother while Adler drew in one of his sketchbooks. 

Keeva helped Adler make breakfast and lunch and spent a while trying to tend to his mother's plants before he started getting too sneezy and had to take a shower to clean himself up. He grimaced and felt anger at the tears forming in his eyes when he looked at his body in the mirror. He didn't want to cry seeing the physical evidence of his father's anger. He didn't want to be so emotional about it. He'd gotten plenty worse injuries during training at school before that never made him cry, but… the context of these particular bruises and little cuts across his pale, freckled skin made the back of his throat burn. 

He made a point to avoid looking in the mirror much after that.

Thankfully, any bruises visible from his fight with his father were mostly isolated to parts of his body that would be covered by his normal clothing choice, though he opted for longer pants that cuffed at his shin anyway. He almost put on a shirt with a high collar to cover the purple bruises from fingers clenching his throat, but then decided that he wanted to make sure his father saw them if they crossed paths and put on a regular light button-up. He regretted it as soon as Adler saw him, whose eyes went straight to his neck and sighed sadly.

"I'm fine, please stop giving me that worried look," Keeva pleaded quickly.

"The hoarseness still in your tone and the bruising on your throat say otherwise," Adler said with a sigh. He smoothed Keeva's hair affectionately and let the subject drop, thankfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> context for keeva mentioning why its paxa's fault he can fight so well and stuff- so from the time keeva was 8-12 years old, he attended essentially military boarding schools. the republic was demilitarized, but ive created like, specific academies that were regular schools for children of the republic but also included training programs for those who perhaps sought to join the various BASICALLY lowkey militant forces the republic had at various parts of space or on various planets and such. then when he was 12, the academy on carida opened up, and keeva got transferred there with a handful of other tweens and teens from influential families who wanted their kids trained to serve the empire in a real academy like carida. this story takes place like... a few months in to keeva's first semester at carida.
> 
> anyway, paxa has been physically abusing keeva since he was like 9 or 10 with increasing severity over the years. he's been abusing adler since he was maybe 12?? it comes from a lot of internalized anger and abusive thinking from paxa's parents that he let sink into him so deep that he became his parents and thus began abusing keeva and adler. he's very jealous of the close brotherly bond keeva and adler have because paxa never had that with marden, due to their own toxic upbringing and family environment, and he sneers and calls them weak for supporting and relying on each other so much, nevermind that theyre both children and stuff. it's bad KJNDSF. 
> 
> the three of them have managed to hide the abuse from adia, miraculously, because the boys don't want to upset their mother, so they keep it secret. not long after this moment, though, keeva accidentally spills the beans and tells her he gets in physical fights with paxa sometimes and she. is, to understate it, extremely angry and shocked that paxa acts that way. it's one of the biggest breaks in their relationship that leads to them growing further and further apart, which leads to paxa staying on coruscant more for work and adia being satisfied with him never being home anymore. essentially, becoming separated but still married, though that doesn't happen for another few years from the point that this fic takes places.
> 
> anyway, waves hand, paxa is a bad person who became someone repeating the cycle of his toxic and abusive childhood. i've got a whole separate narrative that outlines his entire character development arc from someone who left his past and family behind and wanted to be better and started a family with his loving wife, to him slowly letting his parents back into his life and becoming corrupted to their abusive language, to abusing his kids, to his divorce with adia. it's a whole thing.


End file.
